Revere on fire as he extends hitting streak to 21

By Rhett Bollinger / MLB.com

CLEVELAND -- With four hits against the Indians on Monday, Ben Revere extended his hit streak to a career-high 20 games and has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball over that stretch. Revere extended his streak to 21 games in his first at-bat vs. the Indians on Tuesday.

His .388 batting average dating back to July 16 is the second-best in the American League and the fifth-best in the Majors, entering Tuesday. It's raised his batting average to a team-high .331 this season, but he's still short of qualifying for the batting title by seven plate appearances. If he were eligible, he'd rank second in the AL in batting average behind Mike Trout's .348 average.

Revere's impressive hit streak is the longest by a Twins player since Torii Hunter hit in 23 straight from April 11-May 9, 2007. And Revere said he's definitely aware of his current streak.

"It's all over Twitter, all over the news; people talk about it," Revere said. "I'm aware of it, but a streak is a streak. I'm just going out there and having fun no matter what happens. It's a blessing just to get this far up here. I never thought I'd have a streak like that in the big leagues right now. It's been a blessing; it's been a fun ride. Hopefully I can keep it going."

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has been impressed by what he's seen in Revere's second big league season, but says he wants to see him keep doing it before he declares him a perennial batting title contender.

"With his speed and if he keeps swinging the way he is, he can be one of those guys," Gardenhire said. "He can get hits lots of different ways. But I don't like to put tags on guys. We know Joe Mauer is a .300 hitter. He has a beautiful swing and fantastic eye at the plate. Ben is a little different than that. He's a hacker. He's a swinger. So there's a different way to hit .300 and he's proving that right now. Whether he can continue that and do that for a long time, we'll see."

Gardenhire happy to see club's offense on the rise

CLEVELAND -- The Twins' offense has been on fire since the All-Star break, as the club leads the Majors in runs scored since then with 136.

Minnesota also leads the Majors with a .291 batting average over that stretch. And it has Twins manager Ron Gardenhire happy with the way his club has been swinging the bat.

"We feel like we can score some runs," Gardenhire said. "Always a pitcher can shut you down here and there, and you're always going to have that, but basically on an everyday basis, we feel pretty good about this. They can go out there and hack. We've got some pretty good hitters in there. We've got some guys who can run. So we feel pretty good. We're scoring some runs."

But while the offense has been solid, the Twins are 12-12 since the All-Star break due to the fact that the club's 4.46 ERA ranks 20th in baseball since then.

Plouffe takes grounders as recovery continues

CLEVELAND -- Third baseman Trevor Plouffe fielded grounders and ran the bases at Target Field on Tuesday and is scheduled to swing in the cages on Wednesday, according to Twins manager Ron Gardenhire.

Plouffe is on the disabled list retroactive to July 21 with a bruised right thumb after being jammed by a pitch against the Royals on July 20.

If all goes well on Wednesday, Plouffe is expected to take batting practice on the field on Thursday.

The Twins are still deciding whether he'll need a rehab assignment once his thumb is healed. There remains a slight chance he could be activated from the disabled list on Friday.